


Love (Or Something Like It)

by Sylv



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabbles, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 05:02:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylv/pseuds/Sylv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One pairing per chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Azula/Katara

_“I will mark you as mine,”_ she whispered. And she did.

Katara thrashed and punched and kicked and screamed until she lost her voice, but it didn’t make any difference. She was branded.

She scrubbed and scrubbed and lived in the water and still it wouldn’t come off—the mutilated, disgusting, stinging, burning,  _pain, pain, painpainpain_ —

“Katara! What’s that on your shoulder?” called Sokka.

She let him pull aside her robes, and she didn’t need to hear his gasp to be able to see his horrified expression in mind’s eye.

_She would always be hers._


	2. Mai/Ty Lee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh Ty Lee, you raging lesbian.

“I did not let you guys talk me into this.”

The two girls cackled like demons, eyes roaming their friend who was examining herself with disgust in front of the mirror. Azula’s smirk said it all, while Ty Lee’s delighted gaze wanted the third side of their triangle to go even  _farther_.

“Mai, you’re so cute!”

Mai looked murderous.

She had somehow been convinced to change into one of Azula’s dresses, one of the ones that she had refused to wear ever since she saw it, but hadn’t had time to make a spectacle of burning it yet. A hideous lace collar barely let the young girl’s chin peek over it, and puffy sleeves trailed down to her wrists where more lace made her skin look almost yellow. In addition to an extremely tight chest area, the bottom half had many layers that caused her to look like a marshmallow.

“I hate you both.”

“But Mai!” Ty Lee protested, her eyes dazzling. “You’re adorable! If you weren’t so cute with Zuko, I’d have you for myself!”

Mai imagined herself melting through the floor and never coming back.


	3. Toph/Zuko

Zuko bit back a groan as he sat down gingerly, rubbing his arms almost self consciously, then stopping once he realized that he was doing it.  
  
Katara couldn’t suppress a giggle when she caught the expression on his face, and she scooted over so that they were sitting next to each other in front of the fire where the fish that Sokka had caught earlier in the day was cooking.  
  
“In need of some healing?” she asked him, her eyes dancing.  
  
“No!” he growled defensively, automatically sitting up straighter and glaring with his golden eyes.  
  
Katara responded with another laugh. “Right. Let me guess… Toph got you? Again?”  
  
Zuko’s eyes narrowed before his face relaxed as he admitted his defeat. His spine crumpled and he leaned back against the tree that they were using, hands starting up the circular rubbing motions again on his arms. “Yeah,” he groused, not looking at his friend.  
  
Her grin widened. “What did she do this time?”  
  
“She kicked me in both of my shins with a rock shoe on,” he informed her almost inaudibly, turning his face so that he was looking in the other direction—anywhere but towards the amused waterbender on his right.  
  
“And those bruises on your arms from where she’s been punching you haven’t healed up yet either?”  
  
His silence was answer enough.  
  
Katara’s mind flickered away from her main point for a minute—he had gotten those a while ago, maybe she should just look at them while he was sleeping and try to get the blood circulating somehow, even if he wouldn’t allow it—but almost immediately jumped right back. “Okay, Zuko—you’re an idiot.”  
  
“What?” said firebender snapped at her, irritated. “How am I an idiot? I didn’t even do anything; Toph just likes to beat me up.”  
  
“She likes to beat you up because she  _likes_  you.”   
  
She must have been violating every rule in the Girl Code, but if he couldn’t get something simple like that through his thick skull, then Zuko was going to need a lot more of her help.  
  
He blinked a few times. “Yeah. I like her too.”  
  
Katara could have slapped her forehead. “No. She  _likes_  you. She has a crush on you.”  
  
It was blunt and to the point, exactly the way that Zuko liked things done. Of course, that meant that he got the full effect of her words all at once, and that effect nearly bowled him over backwards in shock.  
  
“Excuse me,  _what_? She has a  _crush_  on me, so she wants to _beat me up_?”  
  
Katara sighed. “It’s her way of showing affection, Zuko. She doesn’t really know how to express to you that she has this crush on you; it’s just the way she does things.”  
  
Zuko gaped like the fish that were starting to smell rather tasty over the flickering flames. “That doesn’t make any _sense_! Isn’t that counter-productive?”  
  
Katara frowned. “I’m not sure how I should feel that you’re commenting on that, rather than the fact that she has a crush on you at all.  
  
Zuko’s cheeks colored ever so slightly and he turned his face, although not quickly enough for Katara to miss the blush. “Yeah, well, I don’t know if I want to think about that or not…”  
  
His friend’s chuckle made him look back around in time to see her stand up and brush off her robes. “Alright, fine, whatever you want Zuko. But I’ll be sleeping right over there if you need me,” and she pointed to where her sleeping bag was next to Sokka’s, “Don’t hesitate to wake me up, okay?” She winked conspiratorially.   
  
  
Hesitation was the last thing on his mind a few hours later, when he could be seen stepping gingerly over the shapes of his companions in the dark.


End file.
